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Day 286: Cucumber Pancakes

January 22, 2006

Sneaking vegetables into breakfast is hard!

Even after nearly 10 months of cooking a vegetable in a new way every single day, the breakfast and brunch list is pretty short; worse, not one recipe really shouts 'breakfast' in the way a dedicated veggie- and breakfast-eater might hope.

So Nupur's One Hot Stovecucumber pancakes sent me scurrying for rice flour. (Ooops. Only mid-cucumber-grate and too late did I realize that there's "rice flour" and then there's "sweet rice flour". I'd bought the wheat-free and gluten-free sweet rice flour at Trader Joe's. Was it the wrong kind? I don't know! The pancakes weren't sweet-tasting in the least.)

These were savory good! To my surprise, I especially liked the bits of hot pepper and the taste of cumin. Nupur suggests serving the pancakes with relish or chutney but I have to say, the tiny bit of chili lime butter leftover from Day 280 was sublime. I also tried a bite with maple syrup -- okay but nothing special.

I did have trouble, I think, getting these to cook through. They turned out more dough-y than expected, certainly more doughy than American-style flapjacks. Hmmm, the flour, perhaps? Or perhaps that's the intended texture? It wasn't unpalatable, just unexpected.

FOR THE RECORD This is A Veggie Venture's official entry into Hooked on Heat's monthly food fun called From My Rasoi. This month, the fun features, yep, Breakfast.

FROM THE ARCHIVES For other recipes using low-calorie, low-carb cucumber, see here in the Recipe Box.

1/2 an English cucumber, skin on (for fiber) and grated (about 2 scant cups)1 cup rice flour2 tablespoons minced cilantro -- oops, I forgot this!1/2 large jalapeno, minced (about 1 tablespoon)1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds1 cup buttermilk (and later I added another 1/2 cup to further thin the batter, Nurur also says you can use water or a combination of water and buttermilk) Salt to tasteSesame seeds (to my taste, these didn't add much)

Butter for frying (I tried butter-flavored cooking spray, it didn't work but it took only a tiny sliver of butter, maybe 1/8 a teaspoon, per pancake)

Grate the cucumbers into a large bowl (Nupur says you want to make sure to grab the cucumber juice). Add all the remaining ingredients except the sesame seeds.

Melt a tiny bit of butter in a large skillet (the bigger the skillet, the more pancakes you can cook at once). Pour 1/4 cups of batter into the skillet, use a spatula to even out the thickness and spread evenly. (If using, sprinkle the top with sesame seeds.) Cook til the bottom is crispy, then flip and cook the other side til crispy too.

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comments:

Alanna, thanks for trying these! I have never used rice flour from TJ's so I don't really know how it compares to the plain rice flour (from Indian stores) that I use. About the pancakes being doughy, hmm...maybe the batter could be a bit thinner to make thinner pancakes? I do know that I turn down the heat a bit while these are cooking so that the inside cooks before the outside gets too browned. Cooked rice flour does have a chewy texture, more doughy than all-purpose flour, but not enough to be unpleasant at all. Maybe adding some all-purpose flour would also help...I do need to experiment with these some more! :) Have a great week ahead...

Over on my site you can see recipes for Zucchini Gingerbread and Garden Bounty Muffins which use lots of veggies and are great for breakfast, since they have protein in them, too. I also make Freggie Bars - a dessert bar that has zucchini and apples and vegetable or fruit baby food. They could be good for breakfast, too, especially if you add nuts to get some more protein.They're all farily low carb since I use Splenda and there's lots of fiber to counter the carbs. Maybe those'll help you with expanding your breakfast choices.

I too am always looking for new ways to make veggies (so i visit your site frequently)- one of my tricks for broccoli uses a very similar recipe (although not very breakfasty). It goes over well with kids too: check it out: http://greensandgrains.blogspot.com/2006/01/broccoli-pancakes.html

How did I miss these? But better late, etc. About rice flour: in the US and in gluten-free circles, the standard would be white rice flour (also used in Scottish recipes for shortbread); there's also brown rice flour and the sweet RF that you found. Sweet rice is also called glutinous or sticky rice, used in Asian desserts, usually, though I once made Pearl Balls, pork meat balls rolled in glutinous rice and steamed. Varieties of rice available in the US have grown -- mix, match, have fun...

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe, whether a current recipe or a long-ago favorite. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. ~ Alanna

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